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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Notes on Fibers


New scarves and one of the new 'kats' I'm making.  The scarves are made of silk and Tencel, the bottom left has linen in the mix.  The kats are all made with wool, hand sewn faces and filled with polyfil.


About  Tencel or lyocell I have been curious, I like it and use it a lot. 
Lyocell is regenerated cellulose fiber made by dissolving pulp (bleached wood pulp).  It was first manufactured in 1987 in the UK, as of 2010 it is manufactured by Lenzing AG.  Tencel is a brand name also owned by the manufacturer Lenzing AG of Austria, this company also manufactures in the US and the UK
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) defines lyocell as "a cellulose fabric that is obtained by an organic solvent spinning process", it's classified as a sub-category of rayon.
This fiber shares many properties with other cellulosic fibers such as cotton, linen and ramie.
It is soft, absorbent, strong when wet or dry and resistant to wrinkles.  It can be machine washed, hand-washed or dry-cleaned.  It drapes beautifully.
The closed-loop manufacturing process makes lyocell inherently the most eco-friendly of the naturally regenerating fibers.
I use it as warp and weft, when warping with lyocell you don't have the static that silk presents.  I love the way it drapes, the sheen of the finished piece and it's endurance.  

2 comments:

Joanne said...

They are lovely, I'd like to try that yarn, if I ever get set up.

barbindell said...

Saw your things at Susans, very beautiful--good luck with your upcoming show. Am using some Tencel in some placemats, really like it also